Hail a Ride with an App

Remember when we use to stand on the corner and hail a taxi? Yeah, about that. How we get a ride has gone digital. No more whistling for a taxi, now we can hail a ride with an app.

Two companies are at the forth-front of ride sharing via an app – Uber and Lyft.

The concept is simple and brilliant. You download the app. Input your credit card info. Request a ride.

Lyft and Uber aren’t available in all areas yet. And the drivers? They are everyday people, not your typical taxi driver. Don’t worry, both services go through extra measures to make sure whoever is driving you isn’t a crazy person.

At Lyft, safety is our top priority. From background checks to our first-of-its-kind $1M liability insurance, we go above and beyond to create a more safe community. Read more about Lyft’s safety measures.

In order to drive for uberX, you must be 23 years or older, and you must have your own car with insurance. You also must have a valid driver’s license and pass a criminal and motor vehicle background check. Read Uber’s driver requirements

All payment takes place on the phone, so there is no awkward money exchange conversations, the apps handle them all.

Check out Lyft in action. Conan O’Brien decided to try out Lyft and did it with Ice Cube and Kevin Hart. Check out this hilarious video of him in action (and it’s a good demo of how the app and ride share system work).

http://youtu.be/VNM7Z7hir_I

While Uber and Lyft are in their infancy stage – don’t expect these companies to go away anytime soon. Google owns a nice chunk of Uber and according to this post from Forbes, these types of services could be used for package delivery.

This is definitely a game changer as far as taxis go. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for these types of services.

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